Fendi has announced its latest collaboration, featuring Fragment and Pokémon, in a playful collection that celebrates the Year of the Dragon in 2024. Set to launch on January 4th and available in select Fendi boutiques worldwide and on fendi, the collection features a dragon-type Pokémon paying tribute to the Chinese zodiac sign in a unique partnership between the Rome-based luxury brand and Hiroshi Fujiwara’s Fragment.
The FF Fragment explores Fujiwara’s signature on Fendi’s signature FF jacquard logo in its institutional brown and tobacco shade and a bold yellow version. The design is featured on Fendi's Peekaboo ISeeU Small and Baguette women’s bags, together with a new foldable Baguette shopper and soft hobo bag. With yellow contrasting zips, the Frgmt disruption is also visible on a men's large messenger and a belt bag, while a Fendi x Frgmt logo completes the collection's offer.
Fendi has a history of producing iconic handbags, recognizable by their unique shapes.
According to Silvia Venturini Fendi, artistic director of accessories and menswear at Fendi, their handbags are "a logo themselves." The FF Fragment is a creative addition that celebrates a living history, with Hiroshi Fujiwara taking their handbags and turning them into mini pop monuments. He adds a touch of streetwear culture to Fendi’s traditional craftsmanship in a collaboration that took more than three months to materialize.
This is not the first time that Fujiwara has worked with Fendi. In 2017, he and Kim Jones, Fendi’s artistic director of couture and womenswear, collaborated on a project for Louis Vuitton. It was a pre-fall men's collection that aimed to reflect the luxury fashion brand's heritage in a fresh and contemporary way. Fujiwara is a respected figure in streetwear culture and has collaborated with various brands, including Moncler Genius and Loro Piana.
Fendi's homage to the Year of the Dragon extends beyond bags to inlays and prints on FF jacquard and FF canvas backings as well as Dragonite (a draconic, bipedal reptilian Pokémon with light orange skin) and Dratini (a reptilian Pokémon with a blue serpentine body and a white underside) adorning the mini Baguette bags and earrings to rings.
The collection has a limited edition, collector's-item, featuring Dragonite, created by Fendi’s leather artisans and branded with its own silk FF foulard, requiring more than 30 hours of manual workmanship.
Fendi will unveil a pop-up store in Cheng-du Taikoo Li, Tokyo’s Isetan, and Selfridges in London on January 4th, 2022, and run until January 27th, January 9th, and January 28th, respectively. Dedicated to celebrating the Friends of Fendi, this latest collaboration follows Stefano Pilati’s, Kim Kardashian and Skims, and Marc Jacobs.
Fendi's partnership with Fragment and Pokémon proves yet again that fashion can be playful, innovative, and fresh in a world where luxury heritage meets contemporary interpretation.
References: Fendi